PADI Divemaster
You've gone through the ranks and now it's time to enter the ultimate PADI community, this is of course the community of diving professionals. You want to share the passion of diving with everyone around you and maybe even make diving a career, well this is where you start.
This is not an easy task, nothing worth having is. This is however an amazingly rewarding one that can change your life. The PADI Divemaster course will equip you with all the tools you need to succeed as a dive ambassador. Once certified you will be able to lead dives and assist an instructor on courses. Above this you will have a enormously increased understanding of SCUBA diving equipment, weather conditions, marine life, ocean currents and much more.
Becoming a PADI Divemaster is not your average course, instead of being taught exactly what to do like in all your other courses, you will be mentored. Your instructors will run you through what they do, and why they do it. You will mostly shadow initially, but by the end of our training you will be completely confident in taking on any situation like a professional.
This course is a must for anyone who wants the absolute most out of their diving!
- Be certified as a PADI Advanced Diver (link) or equivalent from another organisation
- Be certified as a PADI Rescue Diver (link) or equivalent from another organisation
- Be 18 years or older
- Must have a minimum of 40 logged dives
- Be confirmed Medically fit to dive by a physician (click here for the PADI medical questionnaire)
The PADI Divemaster course schedule is difficult to precisely outline. It all depends on you individually, your circumstances and your current dive experience.
We highly recommend that you come in to our Simon's Town shop or give us a call so we can build a schedule for you.
The main factors that influence the schedule would be whether you plan to do it part time or full time. A part time PADI Divemaster course done only over weekends can take anything between 2 - 3 months. If you however plan to do it full time it can take 3 - 6 weeks.
Another factor would be your current experience level, this can only be measured once we get in the water and see how comfortable you are.

The PADI Divemaster course makes use of both the PADI Divemaster manual and the encyclopaedia of recreational diving, these are given to you at the beginning of the course.
You will need to complete the following knowledge reviews in your PADI Divemaster manual, for many of the answers you will need to refer to the encyclopaedia:
Knowledge Review 1 – The Role and Characteristics of a PADI Divemaster
Knowledge Review 2 – Supervising Diving Activities
Knowledge Review 3 – Assisting with Student Divers
Knowledge Review 4 – Diving Safety and Risk Management
Knowledge Review 5 – Divemaster-Conducted Programs
Knowledge Review 6 – Specialized Skills and Activities
Knowledge Review 7 – The Business of Diving and Your Career
Knowledge Review 8 – Awareness of the Dive Environment
Knowledge Review 9 – Dive Theory Review
Once all knowledge reviews are completed you will receive an exam that is split in to two parts, you will need to score a minimum of 75% for each part to pass the PADI Divemaster exam.

There are multiple exercises that you would need to complete during your PADI Divemaster course, all of these are will be presented the first time around by your PADI Instructor and you would need to present them at a later stage during the assessment section of the course.
You will need to demonstrate all the SCUBA & Skin Diving skills from the PADI Open Water (link) course, these include:
- Equipment assembly, adjustment, preparation, donning and disassembly
- Pre-dive safety check (BWRAF)
- Deep-water entry
- Buoyancy check at surface
- Snorkel-regulator/regulator-snorkel exchange
- Five-point descent
- Regulator recovery and clearing
- Mask removal, replacement and clearing
- Stationary air depletion exercise and alternate air source use
- Alternate air source-assisted ascent
- Free-flowing regulator breathing
- Neutral buoyancy
- Five-point ascent
- Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent
- Hover motionless for 30 seconds
- Underwater swim without a mask
- Remove and replace weight system underwater
- Remove and replace scuba unit underwater
- Remove and replace scuba unit on the surface
- Remove and replace weight system on the surface
- Vertical, head first skin dive
- Swim at least 15 metres/50 feet underwater on a single breath while skin diving
- Snorkel clear using the blast method after ascending from a skin dive
- Snorkel clear using the displacement method after ascending from a skin dive
Dive Rescue Workshop
You will freshen up your PADI Rescue Diver skills during the workshop. You will need to show mastery in all of these.
Practical Skills
You will also need to complete some practical skills that will all be conducted with your PADI Instructor, these skills are intended to round you off as a dive professional that is comfortable in different environments.
- Dive Site Set Up and Management
- Mapping Project
- Dive Briefing
- Search & Recovery Scenario - For this we highly recommend you go the route of obtaining the full PADI Search & Recovery (Link) certification.
- Deep Dive Scenario - Once again we would highly recommend obtaining the full PADI Deep Diver certification.
Divemaster-Conducted Programs Workshops
By the end of these workshops you will have a clear perception of what your capabilities are as a PADI Divemaster, these are all programs that you will be able to run once you are certified.
- Scuba Review in Confined Water
- Skin Diver Course and Snorkelling Supervision
- DSD Program (link) in Confined Water
- DSD Program – Additional Open Water Dive
- Discover Local Diving in Open Water

Once you have achieved mastery in all of the skill development workshops you will be ready to take on the final assessments. The final assessments are taken very seriously and only candidates that demonstrate all of the qualities of a professional PADI Divemaster will be certified. With this said, you will have more than one attempt at demonstrating that you successfully understand your role.
Practical Assessments
- Open Water Diver Students in Confined Water
- Open Water Diver Students in Open Water
- Continuing Education Student Divers in Open Water
- Certified Divers in Open Water
Professionalism
- Level of active, positive participation in the training sessions
- Ability to serve as a mentor to student divers
- Willingness to follow directions
- Positive attitude and demeanour toward student divers, divers and staff
- Positive attitude and practice towards caring for the environment
- General understanding of a Divemaster’s role
- Appearance